Tasuku Kaname
Tasuku Kaname '(要介, ''Kaname Tasuku) is the main character of Shimanami Tasogare and a high school student at Shimanami High, who is troubled by his sexual orientation and his affection for his schoolmate Touma Tsubaki. Appearance Tasuku is a generally plain looking teenager and doesn't stand out very much. He has black hair and green eyes. Due to his inner conflict, he usually tends to look rather down, concerned or lost in thought. Although, the more he learns about and interacts with the other patrons of the Lounge, the more he tends to smile. He is also easily flustered by thoughts of Tsubaki. As a student he usually wears his school uniform. However, in his free time he is often seen wearing plain shirts, which are either short- or long-sleeved depending on season. While participating in his club activities, like all other members, he sports his Shimanami High gym uniform. Personality Reflecting his generally average appearance, Tasuku seems to have a rather timid personality. He desperately tries to blend in to the point where he will use homophobic slurs and make offensive comments as a defense mechanism so that no one at school will think he is gay. Though he almost immediately regrets his words, they reflect a level of hypocrisy, as he himself states in his conversation with Anonymous in chapter one, saying, "I tried to maintain that secret by even using words that would hurt me the most if someone had said them to me." Despite his flaws, Tasuku is kind at heart and tries to be understanding towards others, since he too wants to be understood. He even goes out of his way to help Misora get more comfortable with himself and to help him explore his true identity. Even when his attempts fail and Misora outs him in public, Tasuku stays rather calm and later asks himself what he could have done differently to prevent hurting Misora. Regardless, like Misora, Tasuku also seems to be rather unsure of himself. It takes him some time to admit to himself and to the other lounge patrons that he might be gay and is reluctant to come out to his friends from school or his family. Plot '''Summary Tasuku is gay and has a crush on the ace of the Volleyball Club and fellow Health Committee member Touma Tsubaki. After one of Tasuku's classmates finds gay porn in his phone search history, Tasuku has a breakdown, believing that his life is over. As he gets ready to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge, he sees a stranger jumping out of a window of a building further up the hill. He runs in the direction of the building in a panic and finds himself in a lounge that he later discovers is a de facto meeting place for members of the LGBT community. While there, he finds that the person he saw jumping out the window, called Anonymous, is alive and well. After briefly meeting the other lounge visitors and having a short but enlightening conversation with Anonymous, he starts coming to the lounge more frequently and soon becomes a regular there. Volume 1 Chapter 1 After his classmates find gay porn in his phone, Tasuku contemplates suicide. Before he can go through with it, he sees a person jump from a window, seemingly to her death. When he rushes in the direction she jumped from, Tasuku finds the lounge, with the person, Anonymous, safely inside. Tasuku follows her to the observatory, where he admits "to having a secret". After reanalyzing the incident again, Tasuku decides to go back to school to make sure his friends didn't know his "secret". Anonymous invites him to come by the lodge again. Chapter 2 Despite his hopes, his classmates remembered the incident from the day before and continued to mock him. He freaks out and runs from the room, skipping the end of class ceremonies. He returns to the lodge and is hostile to the other regulars, embarrassed by their orientation. Tasuku tries to confide in Anonymous when she returns. She listens while packing 1000000 Yen stacks but she doesn't respond to his feelings, leaving him feeling hollow. He falls asleep on the couch of the lodge, emotionally exhausted. Chapter 3 After Tachibana, the friend who found the gay porn, apologizes for teasing him, Tasuku fins the confidence to tell him to stop making gay jokes. However, he seems tense after he notices Tsubaki, a volley ball player, looking at them. When he returns to the lodge, Daichi invites Tasuku to join the lodge members to help demolish an abandoned building for their organization, Cat Clowder. After Daichi's wife Saki visits her, she tells Tasuku she's her wife. Their affection towards each other make Tasuku realize his feelings for Tsubaki. Chapter 4 After another day of demolishing, Tasuku asks about Saki and Haruko's relationship. Harkuo ask him to keep Saki's orientation a secret, which he empathized with. Haruko shows him a gay twitter community where she met Saki and tell him the story of how she built the lounge, and came out to her parents. Chapter 5 Tasuku is put on the spot by Saki during an angry rant, when she assumes he's gay. Tasuku almost says he isn't before Anonymous asks him "Is he going to die again?" before leaving for her walk. Tasuku follows her out to go meet up up with the ping pong club. The various school clubs meet up by the docks. Despite pining over Tsubaki, he is still conflicted over pursuing his feelings. Later, Saki apologizes to Tasuku for putting him on the spot. Saki confesses that she does want to come out to her parents, but shes also intimidated. Despite this she does say she wants to marry Haruko. Tasuku sees all this and is envious of their happiness. After Haruko seeing his reaction, Haruko tells Tasuku he will pick what the next house renovation will be. At a demolition job for Cat Clowder, Tchaiko play Tchaikovsky. Tasuku is emboldened by the music and asks to demolish a wall. He is too nervous to us the large crowbar so Haruko gives him a nail puller. After pulling a nail, he sees Tsubaki and anonymous through the hole. He admits to Haruko he has a crush on a guy, and breaks down in tears. Volume 2 Chapter 6 Tasuku figures out who Misora is when he sees him walk in the lounge in his school clothes and change into his feminine clothes. Though a series of questions, Tasuku learns that Misora only dresses in feminine clothing at the lodge and is not out to his family and friends. Misora antagonizes Tasuku about his sexuality and his crush on Tsubaki. Tasuku assumes that Misora must be gay since he's "cross-dressing", but after being scolded realizes the gender and sexuality aren't connected. When Anonymous enters the room, all of Misora's attention shifts completely to her. Realizing what Tasuku might think, Misora quickly tells him Tasuku he dresses "like this" for himself before leaving in a hurry, leaving Tasuku confused. Tasuku goes to a health committee meeting, where Tsubaki is present. When the meeting ends, Tasuku and Tsubaki are the last to leave. Tsubaki is flustered when Tasuku recognizes him from the times the ping pong club's and volleyball club's meetings intersect. Tasuku knows a surprising amount about Tsubaki, but pretends not to. Chapter 7 Tasuku is greeted by Tsubaki while he walks with Tachibana. This makes Tasuku's feelings start to bubble up but he quickly swallows them down. Though he tries to ignore his feelings, he is still disappointed when Tachibana says he will probably has a girlfriend or at least a girl he fools around with. In the afternoon, Tasuku sees Tsubaki-san leaving the lounge. Inside Haruko is angry with Tsubaki-san over his demands for Cat Clowder but refuses to tell Tasuku what he actually said. Tasuku compliments Misora's outfit, causing him to blush and run to the backroom. Misora puts on his school uniform again and asks to go to Tasuku's house. At Tasuku's house, Misora ask what to do when "your underwear gets dirty' because it was the first time "that" (a wet dream) had happened to him. That's what the plastic bag was at the start of the chapter. He admits that he doesn't have anyone he feels comfortable talking to since he only lives with women. Tasuku tries to connect this to his cross-dressing but is quickly shot down. Misora continues to worry about puberty, and how he will grow into a more masculine body, but also doesn't know if he actually wants to be a girl. Tasuku pressuring him to decide only makes him more frustrated and he tries to leave. Tasuku realizes that Misora needs his help and grabs his hand. Chapter 8 Tasuku tries to help Misora find someone like him on the LGBT twitter community, but finds it difficult since he can't classify Misora's identity. Haruko explains that gender and sexuality are on a spectrum, but a label would help Misora find a supportive community. Misora redirects the conversation back to Tasuku, asking him how he learns he was gay. He remembers being attracted to one of his classmates in 4th grade, recalling the the boy made his heart race and Tasuku thought he looked cool, which Misora found boring. Misora pesters him for a "reason" he's gay which irritates him enough to make him yell. Their conversation is interrupted when Tsubaki-san comes into the lounge. He asks if Tasuku is one of "those kinds of people", but Haruko quickly intercepts and says he just volunteers with Cat Clowder. Tsubaki-san tells Haruko that being gay is fine as long as long as the Lounge doesn't become "a meeting place" and "start queer rumors". Haruko stops him and tells him "Gay people aren't zombies that walk around 24 hours a day thinking about love and dirty stuff!" Tsubaki-san insist that he didn't mean it like that, but Haruko rushes him out politely and with a smile. Now fired-up, she calls on Tchaiko and Tsuku to go to Triangle Manor, the temporary name for Tasuku's in charge of. Trivia * Tasuku only moved into Onomichi in the spring of that year. * Tasuku likes the supernatural and paranormal as seen by the books on his shelf. Category:Characters Category:Male Category:Homosexual Category:Teenagers Category:Lounge members Category:Cat Clowder volunteers Category:Shimanami High